


By Chance

by sarcasmartist



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dorks in Love, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining, Strangers to Lovers, Trauma, action scenes are hard, mainly oc based
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:35:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23670919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmartist/pseuds/sarcasmartist
Summary: When the Inquisitor decides to go on a walk one evening after closing the rift at Crestwood, he runs into some trouble with a person from his past. Now it's up to an agent who happened to be monitoring the Inquisitor to save the day, and make sure the he makes it back to the Inquisition. Preferably in one piece.--------------------An AU with my two beloved OCs, Umbra and Meral, in the Dragon Age Inquisition universe. In this AU, Umbra is a Qunari Inquisitor, his class being a two handed warrior with the eventual champion specialization. Meral is an agent of Leliana's, recruited by her back in her Left Hand days to serve the chantry, and now the Inqusition. After this he would become a companion character of sorts in the game sense, and he'd be a dual wield rogue with the assassin specialization.Yes I did absolutely write this for me. This is 100% self-indulgent and I acknowledge that.Warning for descriptions of violence, blood, and injuries.





	By Chance

Umbra usually heeded the advice of others when it came to anything pertaining to the Inquisition and what he should be doing. But he was only a man, and he needed some time away from holding the weight of the world on his shoulders, so he slipped off for a walk. It was late and nearly everyone was asleep, so he figured that was a great opening to take a quick walk around the fortress. There would certainly be guards on duty, and he had no intentions of straying off very far from Caer Bronach anyhow, so he wasn’t worried about the possibility of a stroll at night. Plus, it wasn’t like he was going unarmed-he was stressed, not stupid. But he wasn’t going out in full armor either. That would be significantly too flashy, and would call a lot of unwanted attention to himself. 

So he found himself staring at the now drained lake at the edge of Old Crestwood, the full moon glittering over the surface of the still waters. He tried not to think too hard about all the dead bodies still in the ruined town below him, and the demons still lurking in the waterlogged homes. They would have to take care of those at some point, but at least the rift in the lake was gone. They had met up with Hawke already, so that business was handled. It would take a while before they could travel to that old fortress in the Western Approach so it wasn’t like he was wasting time here. Tomorrow he’d probably try to find that spy, Butcher for Leliana’s agent, and take care of those bandits lurking on the road. As for that dragon, well, maybe he’d save that for another day. He wasn’t looking forward to that. At all. Hopefully it would just leave, but he knew he probably wasn’t going to be that fortunate. He never was. 

Umbra sighed. There was a lot of work to be done, especially with Stroud’s new information regarding the corruption in the Grey Warden’s ranks. The Wardens, the plot to kill the empress, and still the ever-looming threat of Corypheus and his army of mages. He never thought he’d have to be in charge of anything, never mind something this big. He was definitely not ready for all this responsibility so suddenly, but he knew that someone had to do it, and people were already looking up to him anyway, so it might as well be him. Whether he was sent by Andraste or not didn’t really matter-people needed help, so he was going to help them. Part of him wished things were different, and he was back with Valo-Kas. He missed them. 

The Inquisitor's ears twitched upon hearing something moving behind him. Instinctively drawing his weapon, he whipped around in a fighting stance, ready to strike. He relaxed upon noticing the fennec fox poking its head out of the bushes, and then immediately disappearing. He took a deep breath. Perhaps it was time to head back in and go to sleep for the night. He was starting to feel somewhat fatigued, and it was rather late. He put away his weapon, and started heading back in the direction of Caer Bronach. At least he’d be getting off that cliff’s edge. No more staring at that lonely lake and the relics of what once was. It was also a pretty bad place to get stuck if he ever were attacked out here. 

Umbra instantly regretted his last thought, as he felt a knife plunge deep into his left shoulder. He cried out in a mixture of pain and surprise, turning to face his attacker. There were three of them, weapons drawn, the person who just stabbed him one dagger short. He punched him, hard, sending him flying back to his two companions. The Qunari man drew his weapon again, though with some difficulty, and prepared himself for a fight. One on three wasn’t fair, but he was fairly certain he could take them. They were just a bunch of humans, none of them seeming to be mages upon first glance, but it was hard to tell. It was dark, and the moonlight was being partially obscured by the silhouette of Caer Bronach behind him. He lunged forward, his maul raised up above his head before he brought it down on the man he just hit. It caught him square on the breastplate, rattling him at the very least. The two people on either side of him charged him, hoping to get at him while he was unguarded. 

The Inquisitor decided to go for the one on his left first, to protect his weakened shoulder. He did an upwards swing, managing to hit the woman’s sword and knocking it slightly to the side, but not out of her hands. She had a remarkably strong grip. Good for her. The man on his right tried to strike him in the head with the pommel of his sword, but he only managed to hit Umbra’s right shoulder. Umbra took another side swing at the man on his right knocking him over. The woman on his left, however, took this opportunity to pull the knife from his shoulder, causing him to fumble slightly with his weapon. He felt the warm blood starting to run down his back, and he knew he was in trouble. That’s when he felt an arrow wizz right between what remained of his horns. He glanced behind him and saw five more similarly dressed individuals starting to close in on him. Yep, he was definitely screwed. He could not take on all seven of these people by himself. He needed help, bad. 

That help came in the form of a man who dispatched the archer who had just shot at him with brutal efficiency. The man was unfamiliar to him, though he recognized the uniform as belonging to Leliana’s group of spies. What was he doing here? Had he been following him? Well, it didn’t really matter all that much, he was grateful for the assistance. Umbra took advantage of the opportunity of the spy’s surprise appearance to swing down at the woman to his left, landing the hard blow directly on her shoulder. She crumpled, and he heard her sword clatter to the ground next to her. The four remaining warriors had now surrounded the spy, who was doing his best to defend against their blows. 

Umbra charged the four attackers, his hammer raised to come down on the first unfortunate soul he came across. However, in this scenario, the unfortunate soul ended up being the spy who had come to his rescue, as a sword thrown at his legs hit both of them at the same time, causing him to trip and lose his grip on his weapon. The hammer flew forward, managing to miss the four bad guys and hitting the spy square in the face. He went down very hard, and then didn’t seem to be getting up. Oh no. Oh Maker. Did he just kill him? Now was definitely time to panic. 

Five out of seven attackers surrounded him while he was on the ground, and he knew he didn’t have a choice but to surrender. A new person appeared, taking up the space right in front of his face. He looked up, noting the different armor she was wearing in comparison to what Umbra assumed were her subordinates. Her blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun, accenting her sharp, stern features. A small smile appeared on her face as she glared down at him, making his stomach drop. This was a woman he did not want to mess with. 

“Good evening, Inquisitor,” she said, sounding much too chipper for someone so terrifying, “I hope you’ve had a nice stroll. Hopefully, if all goes well, it won’t be your last.” His eyes widened as she raised up the hilt of her sword, and hit him square in the head, knocking him unconscious. 

When Umbra awoke, he couldn’t see. For a moment, he panicked, until he came to the realization that there was a cloth covering his eyes. Similar cloth was in and over his mouth, preventing him from speaking, not that he would have tried. It was likely no one who could help could hear him anyway. His hands were bound behind him, though his legs were still free. Likely because if he were to stand up and try running, he wouldn’t get far without his sight. He knew he was in a cart of some kind, due to the swaying wood he felt beneath him and the sounds of wooden wheels rolling over gravel. His ears twitched, trying to pick up any sounds that might help him figure out where any of his assailants might be. He hadn’t moved much since he woke up, trying not to alert them to his consciousness. The more he could eavesdrop, the better. Maybe he could figure out just who these people were, and what they wanted with him. 

There wasn’t anything to hear, as far as he could tell. Just the crunching gravel below, and the occasional snorts of the horse pulling the cart. At least, he assumed it was a horse. Not that it mattered all that much, but he felt the need to at least know something about what was going on. He was in the dark, literally. He felt the cart stop, and his heart skipped a beat. They arrived at wherever they were going, likely a base or a hideout of some kind. He heard footsteps, and he heard the back of the cart open up. Someone climbed inside and grabbed him roughly by the shoulder, startling him. Umbra instinctively began to struggle, using his heavier body weight to drag down whoever was holding him. It didn’t last long, since another person came to assist, grabbing his other shoulder, and the first one delivered a swift kick to his ribs.

The Inquisitor was roughly pulled along the ground, making no attempt to help his captors transport him. He had no idea where they were going or what was going to happen, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Or, well, a second fight. Umbra heard a door open, and then he was tossed inside whatever room they decided to keep him in. He crawled forward, feeling the floor in front of him with his hands. It was rough stone, uneven and cracked, cold beneath his fingertips. 

A hand latched onto one of his horns, and started dragging him further into the room. He struggled, but the person was strong, and it almost felt like they could rip it straight out of his head. He then switched from struggling to trying to move with the person as he was pulled further into the unknown. Eventually, the person let go, tossing his head roughly to the ground. Since Umbra’s hands were tied behind his back, he couldn’t catch himself, his head hitting the ground. The blindfold was removed, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden surge of light in the room. Before him stood the leader women who had hit him in the head with her sword hilt. Her arms were crossed as she glared down at him, calling him “pitiful” without saying a word. A terrifying individual indeed. 

“Inquisitor Umbra Avaar,” she greeted, “You are not an easy man to catch.”

 _“That just means Leliana and Cullen are doing their jobs,”_ the qunari thought, unable to speak with the gag. He probably wouldn’t have said such a snarky remark to her anyhow. Probably.

“You and I are going to get quite familiar with one another.” There was a wicked grin on her face as she crouched down to his level. She grabbed his face with her hand, squeezing his cheeks tight. He shook his head, trying to get her hand off of him. She eventually let go, her hand then moving to the gag. She paused, looking him in the eyes, and then slowly removing the cloth over his mouth. He spit out the second cloth that had been shoved in his mouth onto the floor, and used every ounce of willpower he had to not try and rip her throat out with his teeth. 

“Who are you?” Umbra growled through gritted teeth. 

“I’m the leader of a very successful mercenary company. You’ve probably heard of us before from your time in Valo-Kas. We’re the Duavi.”

“Two birds, one stone,” Umbra murmured almost instantly. Yeah, you could say he was familiar with the group. 

“So I’m sure you know why I’ve brought you here today.”

“I can take a wild guess, Blaire.” It took everything in him not to spit directly at her stupid smirking face.

“Go ahead.”

“You want revenge.”

“That’s right," she picked at her nails but her glee was undeniable, "Well, partially right.”

“So what’s the other part?”

She perked up at the question. “I’m so glad you asked.”

Umbra sure wasn’t.

“A very particular group has shown some interest in you, and has recruited several mercenary groups to combat your Inquisition, and protect them from you. Capturing you seemed out of the question to them, so it was never a prerogative. But now, here you are, the key to living it large. I’m expecting a big bonus because of you and your little friend.”

“Where is he?” Umbra growled, perhaps a bit too defensively. He had completely forgotten about the other man who was with him. What she said meant he wasn’t dead, which was good, but they hadn’t left him behind either. 

“Elsewhere,” she said, smiling at her own evasiveness. There was nothing he could do or say that would make her tell him anything. He was left in the dark about this Inquisition spy he didn’t know a thing about, other than the fact it was Umbra’s fault he was in this mess. He could tell just by looking at that smile that she relished in this moment, this extreme power she held over him. He wasn’t looking forward to the next while alone with her. 


End file.
